A stabbing, a minor arrested, and "radical" riots against a squat in Sabadell

BarcelonaThe Les Termes neighborhood of Sabadell experienced its second consecutive night of tension on Thursday due to a clash between residents opposed to the occupation of a business by two men and the police. Initially, a demonstration had been called to express their opposition to a situation that several residents described as conflictive, but the protest soon took a turn: although none of the occupants remained in the building, altercations broke out, a stabbing occurred, and a minor was arrested as the alleged attacker, in addition to several injuries. Fires were also set and there were direct clashes with Mossos d'Esquadra officers.

The Sabadell police station had intensified surveillance around a squatted building on the Barcelona highway in recent days due to growing neighborhood unrest. According to Sabadell Mayor Marta Farrés, at the end of June, police detected that two men had entered the premises. Both had committed petty crimes, such as theft, causing problems in the neighborhood. This led to a complaint filed last Saturday, June 28, for forcing an eviction and a court order for this Thursday.

In fact, the chief commissioner of the Mossos d'Esquadra in Sabadell, Enric Cervelló, has specified that the two men had already been arrested on Wednesday and, therefore, had already left the premises, which had been returned to its rightful owner. In other words, neither man was in the building during the incidents. However, a group of people called for the evacuation of another establishment in another area, and the police decided to activate a strike on Thursday night. This deployment failed to contain the outbreak of violence.

After 10:45 p.m., a large group of people—around 100, according to various sources—gathered around the premises with the intention of forcibly evicting the people who had occupied it for weeks. Initially, the protesters moved containers, burned street furniture, and threw glass bottles and other objects at the Mossos d'Esquadra police line, which included reinforcements from the Operational Support Group (ARRO) and the Mobile Brigade (Brimo).

During the riots, a man was stabbed and was taken to hospital in serious condition. Shortly afterwards, the Mossos d'Esquadra arrested a minor as the alleged perpetrator of the knife attack.

Forcefulness with squatters and radicals

Sabadell City Council blames these riots on "radical people," and this Friday, the mayor herself publicly condemned both the employment and the response of the citizens who wanted to "take justice into their own hands." "We are completely uncompromising on the issues of repeated offenses and employment," she said, "but just as we want the people who occupied the building to go to prison, we are equally uncompromising against those who caused these riots."

Cervelló agreed, emphasizing that the "law will be relentless": "What we want for some, we want for all." In fact, the Mossos d'Esquadra have stated that they are in the process of identifying all participants in the violent events, as well as the organizers of the gatherings through social media, with the aim of filing criminal and administrative charges against them.

The mayor concluded her address by emphasizing that "we are working on other cases of conflictive employment in the city to act with the same forcefulness as in this one," and the police said they will continue to strengthen patrols and contact with residents.